A FedEx dirigible? A London company hopes so

LONDON — Airship builders say new materials will allow them to make craft capable of winning business from freight operators such as FedEx within three years.

Falling carbon fiber prices and advances in systems that can control the buoyancy of the largest airships have also encouraged development of models that aim to move goods faster than surface ships and at half the cost of a Boeing 747. A 500-foot dirigible being built by California-based Aeros will carry 66 tons, according to founder Igor Pasternak.

Manufacturers must overcome skepticism about a mode of transport widely regarded as obsolete, together with a lingering fear of lighter-than-air travel that can be traced to the 1937 Hindenburg disaster, in which 36 people died as the biggest-ever airship was consumed by fire in New Jersey. Airship makers argue their products are a cheaper means to move goods such as wind blades directly to the point of delivery.

"When it matures, the lighter-than-air industry will be as big as the fixed-wing sector, with a huge impact on freight movements," said Barry Prentice, professor of supply-chain management at the University of Manitoba. "But I can't be sure that it's finally going to happen in my lifetime."

Commodities companies may be among early customers, Gary Elliott, chief executive officer at Britain's Hybrid Air Vehicles, said in an interview, adding that a study for a mining company showed transport costs could be cut by 40 percent.

Airships, traditionally rigid-framed craft with a lifting capacity well in excess of blimps that maintain their shape through internal pressure, might also be used to supply oil rigs to remote locations, Elliott said.

The receptiveness of the market will become clearer later this year when Cranfield, England-based Hybrid begins taking orders for its Airlander 50 model. Elliot is targeting the first commercial flight for the year after next. The company doesn't disclose a price for its product.

Any sales to airlines would probably follow interest from logistics specialists including Memphis-based FedEx, operator of the world's largest cargo carrier, and United Parcel Service of Atlanta.

"These companies have tremendous needs for lift, and pressure on cost, so they would be likely customers," he said.

Hybrid says its Airlander will beat aircraft shipments on price, allowing it to win some flows even though an Atlantic crossing would take two days rather than eight hours. While sea freight will remain cheaper, an airship can cut out transfer consignments on trucks and trains, aided by the ability to take off and land vertically.

"The whole concept of transportation will adapt," said Elliott, whose company occupies the site where the R100 model was built in the 1920s to meet a requirement under Britain's Imperial Airship Scheme.

British enthusiasm for the technology ended when a rival model, the R101 — the world's largest flying craft at the time with a length of 731 feet — came down in France on its maiden overseas voyage in 1930, killing 48 of the 54 people aboard.

Elsewhere, American backing for the airship diminished in 1933 when the Akron, operated by the U.S. Navy, crashed into the Atlantic during a storm. The 785-foot craft had been built by a joint venture of Goodyear Tire & Rubber and Germany's Zeppelin.

The last large-scale effort to commercialize rigid airships failed in 2002 with the collapse of Cargolifter. While the company remains in business making modest balloon-like craft, its gleaming white hangar near Berlin is now used as a tropical amusement park.

Over the past decade, the Pentagon has provided momentum for airship development as it seeks lower-cost surveillance capabilities. The Hybrid Airlander 50, which features a multi-hulled, nonrigid design, is a cousin of the Long-Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle, which first flew in August and has been sold by Northrop Grumman to the U.S. Army. The Airlander will measure 365 feet and feature a cargo compartment capable of handling standard containers.